पृष्ठम्:श्रीमद्वाल्मीकिरामायणम्.pdf/२०

XV fokaśloka equation, and including at least the main outlines of Uttara- kāṇḍa, has been recognised as a complete poetic unit since almost the beginning of the Christian era. This class of readers will do well to bear in mind the following considerations If the Mahabharata, as a work of poetic art, is the oldest artistic monument of ethos with a background of ethos. It is adi-kavya in the sense that it is the oldest work of genuine poetry, which spontaneously sprung out of the pathos-filled fountain of Valmiki's heart. In the second canto of the Balakanda, it is unmistakably suggested, through the Soka śloka equation and through Valmiki's own observation about his own poetry in 1-2-18, that the true theory of poetry, as conceived in the Ramayana, is that genuine poetry is not made but is a beautiful and spontaneous emanation from the fountain of rasa and that the life and growth of genuine poetry depend upon a delightful synthesis of the artist and the art-critic, of kavi and sahrdaya, of charm and resposne. Accord- ing to this theory of poetry, kavya is not necessarily ornate poetry os court poetry, as some alien sanskritists would render the term, but it ir genuine poetry. 68 The author of the Râmāyaṇa blends in a happy way two ideas- that God fulfills himself in the best man, Sri Ramabhadra, and that man, as Dasaratha's son, rises to his full stature by pulling up his manhood to the level of Brahmanhood. The author of the Ramayana would interpret the Upanişadic teaching 'पुरुषान परं किंचित सा काष्ठा सा परम गति: " as equivalent to "मनुष्यान परं किंचिद् सा काष्ठा सा परागति: " This is how Sahrdayas of the advaitic persuasion are expected to understand and enjoy the teaching and poetry of the Rāmāyaṇa. In this connection, it would be worthwhile to consider the famous verse- " वेदवेचे परे पुंसि जाते दशरथात्मजे | वेदः प्राचेतसादासीत् साक्षाद्रामायणात्मना ॥ " This should be punctuated in two ways, with a comma before and with a comma after ; and it should be read in prose in two ways-- · • वेदवेचे परे पुंसि दशरथात्मजे जाते and दशरयात्मजे वेदवेचे परे पुंसि जाते ? The Supreme God of the Veda fulfilled Himself in the highest type of 6